Making Valentine's Weekend Memories

Happy Valentine's Day! May this be a reminder to love your family, environment, and self every day of the year. Terry and I don't typically celebrate the holiday, unless you count going skiing together, which we do every weekend anyway. We did close on our current home on Feb 14th, so if anything we celebrate missing the Jazz vs Cavs basketball game and moving in. It was a big deal since we had Jazz vs Cavs tickets that night and had to give them away to finish paperwork. I still haven't seen LeBron James play, hopefully that wasn't my only chance.

I'll get to the adventures of the week in a minute, but speaking of basketball, it's All-Star Weekend which was a much bigger deal than the Super Bowl growing up. There are more events now, but I've always been a fan. Friday night, I watched the celebrity game while riding the trainer and then the USA vs World game. Yesterday was practice, D-league, 3-point, and slam dunk. Tonight, it finishes up with the actual game. Normally I'd watch what I could and catch the highlights on ESPN, but this weekend I'm watching it all and here's why... because I have a gigantic remote!

Saturday ER Visit

The last time I was in the ER was for my celery allergy, also on a Saturday. I won't know the details until next week after an MRI and more tests, but it appears that my chronically unstable shoulder decided it's done putting up with my abuse. After getting off the trainer Friday night, I did a few planks and stretches then jumped in the shower. While I was washing my hair, I felt a twinge in my back so started to stretch and roll my shoulders. I leaned over and dangled my arms and next thing I know my shoulder slipped forward and out. It's happened before, but never this bad. As I learned last night, it's likely a cycle of sublaxation vs dislocations. The last one occurred over Christmas break but I was able to get it back in and deal with the pain. Friday night, I had incredible pain and couldn't tell if I got it back in. It just felt wrong and there was minimal mobility.

Luckily, we have a great network of friends/doctors in town and after a few phone calls, decided it was best to get x-rays to make sure the bones weren't dislocated. We spent a couple hours at the ER (with a good mix of President's Weekend ski traffic) and determined the bones are stable. So for now, I spend a couple days resting before we figure out how much damage I've done over the years.

I had surgery on my right shoulder in 2010 after tearing my labrum (trail running fall) and at that time, the surgeon said it wouldn't be long before my loose left shoulder would either tear or get to the point I'd need surgery. I made it over 5yrs, but now Valentine's Day will be memorable for the new house and the old shoulder. Maybe I can mend it with physical therapy, but my gut is telling me it's time for surgery. Stay tuned...

Ok, back to the adventures of the week. On Monday, I got a text from our friend Amanda that she had a 2hr layover in SLC that evening. We haven't seen her since our trip to Italy in 2014, so we drove to the airport and had a fun catch up session! 

Amanda Sighting at the SLC Airport

Tuesday, I was back to the airport for another day trip to Seattle. The inversion was disgusting both driving down into it and flying up out of it. My throat was scratchy for just the short time I was exposed, so I can't imagine everyone that is living in it.

Salt Lake City Inversion

Mt Rainier

Downtown Seattle - Lake Union

The rest of the week, until Friday night's shower, was relatively quiet. We didn't get any snow and the temperatures were in the 40's at 7000ft. We finally got a mix of snow and rain today, I just hope I can get back on the skis a few more times this season.

Roof Melt

Last but not least, the women's cycling season has officially started for the Visit Dallas DNA Pro Cycling team. Terry and I (as Three 9 Consulting) are helping sponsor the team and have been anxious to see how the riders and staff will perform. This weekend, they were in Arizona for the Valley of the Sun Stage Race. The Twenty16 Team swept all three stages and won the overall (Allie Dragoo) but we brought home two 2nd places, a 3rd, and lots of crit primes. It's an exciting start to the season!